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Position of the United States 



ON THE 



CUBAN QUESTION 



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TO THE 



CONGRESS AND THE PRESS 



OF THE 



UNITED STATES. 



Opinion of General Grant on the Cuban War. — Spain always 
aided in Cuba by the United States. — The American Gov- 
ernment make an appeal to the Cubans for a revolution. — 
"Why the United States favored Spain. — N~o independent 
war succeed without foreign assistance. — Wheaton's doctrines 
favorable to Cuban belligerency. — The Southern Confederacy 
did not deserve recognition. — Strength of the Cubans. — The 
United States allied to Spain against Cuba. — What is belli- 
gerency. — Position of the United States on the Cuban ques- 
tion. — Deceitful conduct of Spain. — The American Gov- 
ernment, by its own laics, bound to recognize Cuba. — " The 
Gordian Knot." 



In the course of the long and bloody struggle that the people 
of Cuba are sustaining against the Government of Spain, the 
American Congress and Press have assumed different atti- 
tudes towards the contending parties, though generally inclined 
to applaud that which endeavored to gain its independence. But 
now, in view of the multitude of facts and weight of evidence, 
the eloquence of which would seem to be irresistible, public 
opinion is unanimous in condemning the oppressive home gov- 
ernment, and favoring the efforts of the natives of the Island to 
become a free nation. 



2 

Notwithstanding the frequent official announcements made by 
the Spanish authorities of the " final suppression of the insurrec- 
tion," the fact is to-day incontrovertibly established that the 
movement is at present more powerful, more active, and less 
likely to be suppressed than ever ; and this is virtually acknow- 
ledged by President Grant. In his message to Congress he says : 

" The existence of a protracted war in such close proximity to our own 
territory (Cuba), without apparent prospect of an early termination, can- 
not be other than an object of concern to a people who, while abstaining 
from interference in the affairs of other powers, naturally desire to see 
every country in the enjoyment of peace, liberty, and the blessings of free 
institutions." 

The policy of this cabinet seems to have, of late, operated a 
change favorable to the patriots. Nor could it be otherwise, 
first because in view of their recent advantages obtained by the 
invasion of the extensive district of Guantanamo, the assault, 
storming and capture of the fortified places of Mayari, Sagua 
de Tanamo, Jiguani, Yara and others, and their frequent vic- 
tories in other quarters, which have so alarmed the Spaniards that 
they have peremptorily demanded reinforcements of 30,000 
veterans from Spain ; and second, on account of the inhuman 
course pursued by the Spanish authorities, not only towards the 
prisoners of war, but also towards the defenceless inhabitants — 
men, women and children — of the cities under their complete 
control ; which course is wholly consistent with their antece- 
dents in the Netherlands, Spanish America and their civil wars. 

The principal cause, however, of the intimated change in the 
policy of this Government, is undoubtedly due to the frequent 
outrages committed by the Spaniards against the persons of citi- 
zens of the United States, and insults to their flag, in addition 
to the non-fulfillment on the part of Spain of its treaties and 
obligations on the Slavery question. 

In the impending state of affairs I have deemed it a favorable 
opportunity to address myself to the Congress and the Press 
of this country, and endeavor to lay before them the Cuban 
question in what I imagine is its true light, making use of every 
freeman's right to express his views to the people of America, 
even though, as an old member of the press in my native coun- 
try, I should not be authorized to appear before the enlightened 
American representatives of popular opinion. 

The Island of Cuba, with a population not much inferior to 
that of the British American colonies when they proclaimed 
their independence, has been struggling for its political and civil 
rights ever since the time when the rest of the American colo- 
nies succeeded in throwing off the yoke of the Mother country. 

The Cubans, as far back as 1821, made their first bloody effort 
to rise against Spain, but it was not until 1826 that this took 
such large proportions as to give it any probability of a favor- 
able result. 

The plan was a general outbreak, combined with a powerful 
expedition from the Spanish American Republics, but the move- 



3 

ment failed in consequence of the hostility of the United States, 
who intervened to prevent the expedition, notwithstanding the 
fact of the existing war between Spain and the aforesaid Span- 
ish American Republics. 

Since that event, whenever the Cubans made an attempt to 
make themselves independent, or were to be transferred by Spain 
to a power maintaining a more liberal colonial government, the 
United State's made haste to declare energetically that they 
would not tolerate either one or the other course of action. 

I deem it unnecessary to copy all the official documents issu- 
ed by the different Secretaries of State of this nation concerning 
this matter, in which proofs of my assertion could be found. A 
few only will suffice. 

Mr. Adams' note to Mr. Nelson (Minister to Spain) of April 
23rd, 1823, says: 

" Hitherto tlie wishes of this Government have been that the connection 
between Cuba and Spain should conlinue as it had existed for several 
years ; these wishes are known to the jyrincipal inhabitants of the Island, and 
instructions (copies of which are now furnished you) were some months 
since transmitted to Mr. Forsyth, authorizing him, in a suitable manner, to 
communicate them to the Spanish Government." 

Mr. Clay's note to the Ministers of Columbia and Mexico, of 
the 20th December, 1826, request them to prevail upon their 
respective Governments to suspend any expedition which either 
or both of them might be fitting out against the islands of Cuba 
and Porto Rico. 

On a former occasion (13th April, 1826) the same Secretary of 
State, Mr. Clay, had addressed a note to Mr. Everett, American 
Minister at Madrid, saying : 

"The United States are satisfied with the present condition of those 
islands (Cuba and Porto Rico) in the hands of Spain, and with their ports 
opened to our commerce as they are now open : this government desires no 
political change of that condition." 

On the 2nd October, 1829, Mr. Van Buren says to Mr. Van 
Ness, (American Minister to Spain) : 

" Cuba and Porto Rico, occupying as they do, a most important geogra- 
phical position, have been viewed by the neighboring States of Mexico and 
Columbia as military and naval arsenals, which at all times furnish Spain 
with the means of threatening their commerce and even of endangering 
their political existence. Looking with a jealous eye uppn these last rem- 
nants of Spanish power in America, these two States had once united their 
forces, and their arm raised to strike a blow which, if successful, would 
forever have extinguished Spanish influence in that quarter of the globe, 
was arrested by the timely interposition of this Government, which, in a 
friendly spirit towards Spain, and for the interest of the general commerce, 
thus assisted in preserving to his Catholic Majesty this invaluable portion 
of his colonial possessions." 

In the same note is to be found the following passage, express- 
ing the gratification of the United States at the fact of Spain 
having strongly fortified the Island : 

" The Government of the United States considers as a much stronger 
pledge of its continuance (the Island of Cuba) under the dominion of Spain, 



the considerable military and naval armaments which have recently been 
added to the ordinary means of defence in that island, and which are sup- 
posed to be fully adequate for its protection against any attempt on the 
part of foreign powers, and for the suppression of any insurrectionary 
movement on the part of its inhabitants." 

Mr. Stevenson, American Minister at the Court of St. James, 
in an interview with Lord Palmerston, acting under the instruc- 
tions of this Government, felt justified in saying to his lordship 
(according to his note of 16th June, 1837) that " it was impos- 
sible that the United States should acquiesce in the transfer of 
Cuba from the dominion of Spain to that of any of the great 
maritime powers of Europe." 

Mr. Forsyth's note of July 18th, 1840, to Mr. Vail, Charge 
d' Affairs at Madrid, says : 

" You are authorized to assure the Spanish Government that in case of 
any attempt, from whatever quarter, to wrest from her these portions of her 
territory (Cuba), she may securely depend upon the military and naval re- 
sources of the United States to aid her in preserving it." 

It is not difficult to understand that this attitude of the United 
States, ever disposed to favor the interests of Spain in Cuba, 
and ready to sustain there its power, was sure to weaken any 
effort made by the natives of the island with the view of obtain- 
ing their independence. 

But at last they were roused from their stupor by the sudden 
voice of the representatives of this country, announcing to them 
that they could rely upon the aid of its inhabitants if they would 
rise in arms to assert their independence. 

In fact, the celebrated despatch from Aix la Chappelle, (Oct. 
18th, 1854) to the Secretary of State, by the American Ministers 
at Madrid, Paris and London says : 

" Extreme oppression, it is now unanimously admitted, justifies any peo- 
ple in endeavoring to relieve themselves from the yoke of their oppressors. 
The sufferings which the corrupt, arbitrary and unrelenting local adminis- 
tration necessarily entails upon the inhabitants of Cuba, cannot fail to sti- 
mulate and keep alive that spirit of resistance and revolution against Spain 
which has of late years been so often manifested. In this condition of af- 
fairs, it is vain to expect that the sympathies of the people of the United 
States will not be warmly enlisted in favor of their oppressed neighbors. 
We know that the President is justly inflexible in his determination to 
execute the neutrality laws ; but should the Cubans themselves rise in re- 
volt against the oppression which they suffer, no human power could pre- 
vent citizens of the United States, and liberal minded men of other coun- 
tries, from rushintr to their assistance." 

" It is not improbable, therefore, that Cuba may be wrested from Spain 
by a successful revolution." 

Such an ardent appeal to a revolutionary movement awaken- 
ed the spirit of the Cubans, and determined them to avail them- 
selves of the first propitious occasion to throw off their yoke. 

Nevertheless, before resolving upon an outbreak, they made a 
last attempt to obtain tardy justice from Spain by asking for the 
promulgation of such laws as would give them the rights of cit- 
izens, and a lawful participation in the government of their own 
country. 



5 

They consequently addressed themselves to the Government 
at Madrid, asking- for political and social reforms, upon the basis 
of " Abolition of Slavery " and " Parliamentary Representation." 
Such reform was needed in a country of such advanced ideas 
and civilization as the Island of Cuba, its children being educa- 
ted, for the greater part, in the United States and other enlight- 
ened foreign countries. 

This petition being denied by the Spanish Government, and 
being unable longer to contain their indignation, they raised the 
cry of Independence, just as the fathers of this great nation did 
in 1774. 

It is plain that Cuba would, half a century ago, have obtained 
its emancipation from Spain had not the United States prevent- 
ed it. It is neither easy to say, nor is it fail* to discuss, whether 
it would have been able to establish a good government. But it 
is probable that its proximity to, and its close commercial rela- 
tions and interests with this country, would have brought about 
a protectorate, under which, liberty and its manifold advantages 
would have made it as prosperous and happy as this nation. 

The reasons that prompted the Government of this country 
are evident in all the notes of the Department of State referring 
to the subject. 

The Government of the United States saw plainly that the 
Cubans, once independent, would liberate their slaves, and it 
would not suffer this in a country so proximate, just at a mo- 
ment when it was endeaVoring to perpetuate that institution 
within the Union. 

It rejected the transfer of the Island to England, or any other 
maritime power, because the possession of that Antille, by such 
a nation, would endanger the commerce, and even the political 
existence of these States ; while Spain, lacking at that time na- 
val strength, was by no means so dangerous a neighbor. This 
clearly stated in all the above quoted notes, and more especially 
in that of Mr. Buchanan to Mr. Saunders, June 17th, 1848. 

It is now of no moment to inquire whether these reasons were 
sufficient to justify the statesmen who governed this powerful 
nation, in carrying out the lamentable policy of sustaining the 
dominion of Spain in America. 

Be it as it may those motives do not exist to-day, and this was 
one of the reasons that determined the distinguished patriots 
who were at the head of the Cuban revolution to rise in arms in 
October 1868. 

Slavery has been abolished in this country, and it is more to 
the interest of its Government to see it disappear from its neigh- 
borhood, and in fact from the whole face of the globe, rather 
than to favor its existence. 

On the other hand, slave labor is the only source of wealth 
that the Government at Madrid recognizes in the Island; and 
Spain, far from being the weak naval power of former years, has 
to-day a formidable navy. So that the dominion of such a Eu- 



ropean power in the Antilles is, at the present moment, contrary 
both to the principles and the interests of this nation. 

Relying, therefore, on the official announcement made to them 
in 1854, that if they rose to struggle for their independence, they 
would receive assistance from the people of the United States, 
and aware of the non-existence of the motives that had before 
occasioned the partial policy of this Government towards Spain, 
the Cubans thought that their cry for independence would have 
had a sympathetic echo in the Capitol of Washington, and that 
they would there be recognized, if not as an independent people, 
at least as one entitled to the rights of belligerency. 

The proverbial custom of Spain of giving no quarter, as has 
prevailed in all her struggles with her colonies and in her intes- 
tine dissentions, was another reason that made the Cubans hope 
that this country would interfere, if it were only to prevent the 
same sanguinary scenes that have stained the history of that 
nation; as did England and France in the last war of suc- 
cession, forcing upon Spain a treaty in which Isabelists and Carl- 
ists promised conformity with the laws of humanity and universal 
warfare. 

To these powerful reasons the Cubans added the no less im- 
portant one that their principles and their tendencies in the in- 
surrection were identical with those for which this progressive na- 
tion had been carrying on a war of four years so gloriously ended. 
In the act of proclaiming their independence they adopted a 
republican form of government, and they abolished the institution 
of slavery. They therefore were justified in expecting the decisive 
assistance of the Cabinet of "Washington, who had just showed 
itself so decided in preserving in this hemisphere Republican Gov- 
ernment and institutions, and free labor, as evinced by the notes 
addressed by Secretary Seward to the Goverment of Napoleon 
III, when the troops of the empire occupied the Republic of 
Mexico. 

But what most encouraged the Cubans were the laws that this 
Government had established, during the war for independence of 
all other Spanish- American Colonies, and the words of the Secre- 
tary of State of that epoch, who in a note to the Minister of Spain 
(Sr. Onis,) said, that the " conduct invariably observed by the 
United States in the wars of the American Colonies against their 
respective metropolis and with one another, was to observe a 
strict neutrality, and to admit in its ports the vessels of both 
contending parties, without stopping to judge of the strength of 
their forces or the probabilities of the final result." 

In addition to the aforesaid, the Cubans, to assure themselves 
of the intervention of this power in their favor, counted upon the 
justice of their cause, the soundness of the principles they estab- 
lished and the interest of this country in their victory. 

It is well known that every Government sustains its own insti- 
tutions, not only at home but abroad, especially in neighboring 
countries. Intervention with that object has been frequent, the 



previous assurance of non-intervention given by every power 
notwithstanding, and it has been admitted in the law of nations. 
In Europe, by the treaty of Paris, the allied kings expressed 
that they had intervened against France in order to check the 
dangerous doctrines of the French revolution, that is to say, re- 
publicanism. In America the United States have declared sev- 
eral times, chiefly through President Monroe and Secretary 
Seward, that it was their interest to favor the triumph of re- 
publican institutions in this part of the world. 

Such were some of the reasons the Cubans had to believe that 
in their deadly struggle with Spain to gain their independence, 
they would be recognized by the United States at least as a bel- 
ligerent party. 

They were well aware that they could not hold any ports with- 
out having a navy, and that in order to have one it was neces- 
sary that their flag should be admitted into this country. They 
believed that fighting as they do against a powerful army with- 
out the prospect, to the eye of an impartial observer, of their 
early downfall, they would enjoy the benefit of the universal 
principles of international law established by Grotius and Vattel, 
and never denied, that in a " civil war the neutrals ought to treat 
both contending parties upon equal terms." 

They remembered also that in the wars of independence it has 
been generally observed that the people avIio have succeeded in 
their endeavors to become a nation, have always received foreign 
assistance ; owing to the fact that it is not likely that a subdued 
country, militarily occupied by its oppressors, can have the oppor- 
tunity of obtaining by itself the arms and munitions of war re- 
quired to overwhelm the enemy's forces. 

The American colonies, that form to-day the Union, are proofs 
of such a fact. During their war for independence, the immor- 
tal leader, George Washington, was once pursued and wandered 
with but a few men, without any means of preventing complete 
destruction other than flight. If in such difficult circumstances, 
the French Government, instead of assisting effectually the 
United States, had tried to ascertain with coolness whether the 
latter were strong enough to be treated as belligerents, it is not 
hazarding too much to say that the foundation of this great em- 
pire would not have been laid. 

The Government of France, in acquiescing to the humble pe- 
titions of the great Benjamin Franklin, was moved by two prin- 
cipal reasons : the justice of the American cause, and the interest 
of the French nation to weaken the power of England. 

Another instance is the uprising of modern Greece ; a case which 
offers some analogy with that of Cuba. As Cuba now claims, so 
Greece some years ago, also claimed its rights while fighting against 
tyrannical government. It is true that in some respects she did 
not prove to be as strong as Cuba is. She was more than once 
very near to being totally subdued ; the young Republic of the 
West Indies having never been placed in such a position. For- 



tunately the European Powers intervened in behalf of the Greeks, 
without cruelly examining whether they were strong enough to be 
treated as belligerents. 

It is very important to remember the note addressed on that 
occasion by Mr. Canning to Turkey. The latter complained that 
the " British Government allowed to the Greeks a belligerent 
character, and observed that it appeared to forget that to subjects 
in rebellion no national character could properly belong." But 
the British Government informed Mr. Strafford Canning that 
" the character of belligerency was not so much a principle as a 
fact ; that a certain degree of force and consistency acquired by 
any mass of population engaged in war entitled that population 
to be treated as a belligerent, and, even if their title was question- 
able, render it the interest well understood of all civilized nations 
so to treat them ; for, what was the alternative ? A Power or a 
community (call it which you will) which was at war with an- 
other, and which covered the sea with their cruisers, must either 
be acknowledged as a belligerent, or dealt with as a pirate, which 
latter character, as applied to the Greeks, was loudly disclaimed." 

Notwithstanding the recognition referred to, Turkey renewed 
her efforts and sent to that historical land a powerful army under 
the leadership of the famous Ibrahim Pasha, whose cruelties have 
been emulated by the deeds of Count Valmaseda. 

Then the European Powers took a decisive step, imposing upon 
the Ottoman Empire the recognition of Greek independence. It 
is certain that had they coolly studied the question of the rights 
of the Greeks to be treated as belligerents, and decided to wait, 
before taking any action in their favor, to ascertain whether they 
were strong enough to shake off by themselves the Mahomedan 
yoke, one of the greatest iniquities recorded in History would 
have been accomplished : the complete extermination of the Hel- 
lenic race, which was the aim of the Turks, as the complete ex- 
termination of the Cubans is now the aim of the Spaniards. 

But, as I have already remarked, the best antecedent in favo r 
of the Cubans respecting this question, was the conduct of the 
United States during the independence war of the Spanish colo- 
nies of America. The new States needed also the practical sym- 
pathy and material aid of other countries, who recognized them 
as belligerents : owing to which recognition they could cover the 
sea with their cruisers, be admitted in foreign ports and to ac- 
quire the necessaiy war elements to conquer the mother country. 

It is to be observed that even the nations who did not deem it 
opportune to recognize the existence of the new States neither 
de jure nor cle facto, virtually gave them the rights of belligeren- 
cy. The best example of this important fact is the sentence 
pronounced by the Tribunal of Marseilles on the 19th January, 
1824, in the case of the brig " Elizabeth," establishing that the 
" Columbians could not be considered as pirates, and that their 
prizes were legal, notwithstanding the rcow-recognition of their 
political existence by the French nation." 



9 

The United States themselves maintained the principle that 
the nations who did not consider it necessary to recognize them 
as belligerents, were in duty bound to do so ; and to pay the 
damages inflicted on the American nation on account of cer- 
tain acts, founded in the non-recognition of their existence. 
Dr. Franklin claimed indemnity due to the heirs of Commo- 
dore Paul Jones, respecting the prizes sent to Norway and deliv- 
ered up by the Danish government to the English, during the 
American war of independence, and he said that nations who treat 
unjustly the rising new States, are bound to future punishment. 
With less fire, but with equal severity of principles, Mr. Henry 
"Wheaton, who is perhaps the best authority on International 
Law the world over, and who is at least the first legislator upon 
that science for the American people, said in his argument in that 
case, that in " a revolution in a sovereign empire by a province 
or colony shaking off the dominion of the mother country, and 
whilst the civil war continues, if a foreign power does not ac- 
knowledge the independence of the new States and form treaties 
of amity and commerce with it, though still remaining neutral, 
as it may do, or join in an alliance with one party against the 
other, thus rendering that other its enemy, it must, while conti- 
nuing passive, allow to both the contending parties all the rights 
public war gives to independent sovereigns." 

It is very easy to understand that in all these questions civil- 
ized nations rule themselves not only by the material strength 
of the independent party, but according to the justice of its 
cause and the interest they have upon the result of the contest ; 
it being well understood that the American principles do not look 
so much to the force of a people struggling to be independent, 
as to its rights and adherence to a liberal programme. 

The Southern States which confederated themselves against 
the Federal Government, developing great military resources and 
admirable qualities in certain respects, could not be placed in the 
same standing with the Anglo-American and Spanish colonies, 
Greece and Cuba. 

The fathers of this great people proclaimed the more liberal 
doctrines of their times. The same can be said of South Ameri- 
ca and Greece, and the Constitution of Cuba is a perfect code of 
true, democratic republicanism. On the contrary, the Confeder- 
ate States established openly the doctrine that slavery was their 
only element of wealth and progress, and, also, the institution that 
all nations ought to recognize, having in view that the black man 
had been marked by the hand of Providence with the seal of 
physical and moral inferiority, in order always to be held in ser- 
vitude by the white. 

I do not think that any impartial person will state that in our 
days a society, whose fundamental law is the greatest of abomina- 
tions, slavery, has any right to enter into the community of inde- 
pendent nations ; nor is it easy to explain the necessity imposed 
by humanitarian ideas upon foreign nations to recognize the 



10 

Southern States, when the Union, without obeying foreign influ- 
ences, allowed to the rebels the rights of civilized warfare. 

The assistance given by England, Spain and France to the 
Southern States had no other motive than their interest in the 
destruction of the colossal American Republic. 

It has been remarked by competent modern authors that in 
questions in which slavery is involved, the general practice of 
non-interference in domestic or internal international right is not 
observed. For this reason the Southern States were to be treated, 
not according to their material strength, but in the light of jus- 
tice. Was it right to allow in this century the establishment of a 
slave-holding nation ? 

The United States have at least in that respect powerful mo- 
tives of complaint against the said European Powers ; but I have 
some reasons to apprehend that this country, in its diplomatic 
intercourse concerning sundry questions, raised during the 
civil war, has, in some way, tried to destroy the sound principles 
established long ago in Europe, and sanctioned in America, re- 
specting the rights of belligerency. 

It seems to me that because this nation has pronounced an un- 
friendly act towards her, the hasty recognition of belligerency by 
England, Spain and France in behalf of the Southern States, 
the American Government considers itself bound to be untrue to 
its own history and to its own doctrines, and obliged to adopt, as 
a political dogma, that no people deserves to be recognized as 
belligerent until it has gained such victories as to render certain 
a final triumph. That is, in reallity, to condemn to perpetual 
servitude any society unjustly subdued and tyrannized over, and 
which, " in the course of human events," has arrived to the ex- 
tremity of asserting its rights by the force of arms. 

Cuba did not hope to be materially assisted by this nation : 
but she had a right to expect that this country should not ask 
of her an impossibility as a condition of the recognition of her 
belligerency. Spain, with the aid of the United States, strength- 
ened herself in such a way in Cuba as to resist any insurrection- 
ary movement, to the great joy of this Government, according to 
one of the notes of the Department of State which I have quoted. 
The Cubans could not arm themselves before the outbreak of 
the revolution without exposing their cause to a terrible check 
by the premature discovery of the movement. 

That they have well fought will be easily understood since 
they have held in check an army of one hundred thousand men, 
having killed in the campaign forty thousand Spanish soldiers. 

Unless allowed to enter the ports of a powerful maritime na- 
tion, they cannot have a navy, and without a navy, as already 
said, they can neither hold permanently any important port, nor 
rapidly supply arms and munitions of war to the liberating 
army. They only needed that a strong and liberal nation 
like this recognized their character as a contending party in a 
civil struggle. Is it reasonable to expect of them, without the 



11 

admission of their flag to American ports, that they shall des- 
troy the control the Spanish navy has over the coasts of the 
Island ? 

Their strength is admitted by the President of the United 
States himself, when he says that " the Cuban war has no ap- 
parent prospect of an early termination." Observing that the 
Spaniards have in that country a powerful army and a strong 
navy, it is easy to suppose that their enemy cannot be so weak 
as it is generally stated by the more or less disguised friends of 
slavery. 

Their strength also can be calculated by the eloquent fact of 
their having expended, during the war, many millions of dollars, 
raised by direct and voluntary contributions among the natives 
of the Island resident in the United States, for they have never 
been able to negotiate a loan, owing to the attitude taken against 
them by the American Government. 

The property belonging to them, and confiscated by Spain, in 
real estate, is worth a thousand millions of dollars, and the Span- 
iards residing in the Island say that " to extinguish the rebellion 
it is necessary to exterminate all the Cubans." 

It cannot be argued that the Patriots exist only because they 
avoid, by flight, the attacks of the Spaniards. The narrowness 
of the island, and the small extent of the theatre of war, an- 
swers satisfactorily that assertion. Fifty miles is the average 
width of that territory, and its length is about five hundred miles, 
bristling with Spanish fortified works. Upon that scene more 
than one hundred thousand men are operating constantly, and it 
is impossible that the advanced pickets should not be constantly 
seeing each other ; it is impossible that the encampments 
be established but at a very short distance apart; it is impossible 
that the Cubans can make the daily retreats which their enemies 
allege. They positively hold an immense portion of the territory 
where they fight, and their movements are made under the 
strict orders of their chiefs : they have, in fact, a regular army, 
well drilled, and known to the war. The very horrible reality 
of the captures and slaughters of women and children made in 
the field by the Spanish troops, proves that in the Republican 
territory there exist many families. Several of them naturally 
have fallen into the hands of the enemy, as a consequence of the 
military movements on both sides. How is it that the Cubans 
take by storm strongholds, according to the Spanish official ac- 
counts ? How is it that the Spanish authorities ask for thirty 
thousand soldiers more ? 

I do not doubt that these arguments have some weight upon 
public opinion, as represented by the press ; but I see the in- 
fluence of the Spanish Government by its being able to publish, 
day after day, by cable, every kind of news unfavorable to the 
Cubans, deceiving continually the world, and giving wrong in- 
terpretations to every fact, seeking to make it believed that the 
Cuban Government officers, who carry the official correspon- 



12 

dence, are fugitives from the island, and that even President 
C<§spedes has abandoned Cuba. The American readers taking 
always notice of sad events unpropitious to the Cuban cause, 
may be inclined to trust at least a part of them, and amidst the 
activity and passionate life of this nation, the Cuban question 
can be easily postponed, ' both by the Statesmen and by the 
people. 

Meanwhile the United States, though recognizing the exis- 
tence of a civil war in Cuba, do not treat one of the parties as 
belligerents, and have allowed the other to supply itself with 
all the arms and munitions of war it has needed, as is pub- 
licly advertised by the Remington's Arms Manufactory. 
They have also allowed the Spaniards to contract and fit out 
here thirty gunboats, which have strongly fortified the coast de- 
fences of the Island; these very same gunboats which captured 
the distinguished Cuban Congressman, Mr. L. Ayestaran, Gen. 
D. Goicouria, Col. Agtiero and his brother, Col. Osorio, General 
Cavada, and several other prominent patriots, all of them ex- 
ecuted by the enemy ; about which fact it is very important to 
remark that those persons are the only ones captured while run- 
ning the blockade. 

The Cubans are pursued on the sea by American ships, and 
those who fall in the struggle are wounded by American wea- 
pons. On the other hand, they, the defenders of the abolition 
of slavery, the admirers of this country, have been persecuted, 
arrested, and punished in it for having committed the crime of 
imitating the noble example of the illustrious men who pro- 
claimed the independence of the Anglo-American colonies. 

The recognition of the civil war that is devastating the Island, 
is a fact admitted in the Executive Messages ; the permission to 
the Spaniards to supply themselves in this country with contra- 
band of war, is a fact likewise ; and with these jjremises the 
consequence is that the United States have been the allies of 
Spain. 

Notwithstanding this virtual alliance, the President of the 
United States avows that the war has no apparent prospect of an 
early termination — a most interesting declaration, the logical 
meaning of which is, that if Spain having received such powerful 
war resources from the United States, and the Cubans having been 
hindered in this land of the free, the struggle offers to-day no 
prospect of an early end in favor of any of the contending parties, 
had Cuba received similar resources from this country, or Spain 
none, the liberating army of the Island would already have tri- 
umphed. 

As regards the inhumanity of this war, it is to be remembered 
that, upon the suggestion of the Executive, he was authorized 
by Congress, to take steps, if necessary, with other nations, for 
stopping such cruelties, and that, notwithstanding this authori- 
zation, the American Government has remained silent and cool, 
even in presence of the revolting and inexcusable executions of 
eight boys ! 



13 

Our tarn varie ? Who is to explain this inconsistency ? 

In order to answer this question it would be perhaps neces- 
sary to lift our eyes to the culminating- diplomatic views of the 
great statesmen that rule this nation, and my short sightedness 
prevents me from reaching such an eminent height. I can only see 
that in Cuba there is a war ; that this war does not offer the pros- 
pect of the early triumph of any of the contending parties; 
that in that struggle are committed cruelties that this govern- 
ment has declared ought to cease ; that one of those contending 
parties has not been treated by the Union as a belligerent, and 
that this nation has done nothing to stop the horrors of such a 
war. 

It has been said that in Cuba there are no great battles, that 
there only exist a guerrilla war, & protracted war, that the pa- 
triots have no ports, and that these are sufficient reasons not 
to treat them as belligerents. 

I confess that I am not able to appreciate all the weight that 
eminent political men of this nation appear to give to this argu- 
ment. If the war is to be of long duration, and not conducted 
with the humanity required by civilized nations, because one of 
the parties treat the other as rebels, and execute the prisoners, 
then it is much more necessary not to loose any opportunity to 
put the contest in a condition of civilized warfare. 

Respecting the number of combatants in every engagement, 
this is a question of tactics that does not belong to the code of 
International Law. The Parthes were not any the less belli- 
gerents because their strategy was to fatigue their enemies re- 
treating before them, in order to vanquish them when the proper 
moment arrived ; the Romans did not cease to be belligerent 
when they adopted the famous Fabian tactics ; the Russians did 
not lose their character of belligerents because after the battle 
of Moscow they burned their great monumental city, divided 
their forces, and did not fight but small engagements or 
skirmishes, confining themselves to harrassing or annoying the 
enemy, in order to destroy him more easily with the aid of the 
climate. The Spaniards were not the less belligerents because 
in their war of independence against Napoleon they considered 
it useful to their cause not to fight great battles, nor on account 
of the fact that their ports and principal towns were in the power 
of their enemy. 

A war does not necessarily mean a succession of great battles, 
of rapid and decisive results. When a mass of population fights 
with another, there is a war, whatever may be the military tac- 
tics adopted in it. Are not the Cubans fighting against Spanish 
soldiers ? Is the Cuban war not a bloody conflict ? Have not 
there occurred in the Island many engagements far more bloody 
than the celebrated conflicts of Bunker Hill and Lexington, and 
the greatest part of the battles fought in the American war of 
Independence ? Is there not in Cuba a war, that, protracted or 
not, is always a war, and a civil war ? 



14 

The dilemma is inevitable. If there is a war the belligerancy 
exists. If there is no belligerancy, the war does not exist. 

The American Government says the war exists, and without 
the apparent prospect of an early termination 

It can be easily understood that the United States would ab- 
stain from taking any action about a war of short duration, in 
which could be foreseen the rapid success of one of the belli- 
gerents ; but it is very difficult to conceive why the American 
Government do not treat on equal terms two contending parties, 
when it admits that the war has no apparent prospect of an 
early, termination. 

Let us admit that in Cuba exists a cronic war, according to 
the convictions of the "Washington Cabinet. In this case it 
would be indispensable either to declare a strict neutrality be- 
tween both contending parties, or to intervene in order to stop a 
struggle that endangers the peace and progress of the Union. 

The neutrality has not existed, and the intervention has taken 
place in favor of Spain, aiding her materially and morally. 

It has been stated that the policy of the United States in this 
question is the same they have ever adopted under similar cir- 
cumstances ; but the cases already mentioned prove exactly the 
contrary. I wish, notwithstanding, to add that the American 
policy, as established since the last war, bound this Government 
to sustain the Cuban cause. 

Some years ago the Mexican territory was invaded by Louis 
Napoleon's troops, who raised in it a throne for Prince Maximilian 
of Hapsburg. This Prince was elected Emperor : all the muni- 
cipalities, all the people took the oath of allegiance to the new 
monarch, who, accompanied by his unhappy wife, visited the 
whole country, being received everywhere with flowers, cheers, 
and enthusiasm. All the ports and Custom-Houses of the coun- 
try were in the hands of the Imperial authorities ; all the com- 
merce of Mexico, abroad and at home, was controlled by the 
Empire. The Republican troops had disappeared, and their 
chiefs were prisoners or fugitives in foreign lands. Only a score 
of men raised the Republican flag, but that was in a far Northern 
deserted region, on the very borders of Mexico and the United 
States, so that they could take refuge in this country at the first 
attack of any imperial force. 

Then the Mexican Empire applied to the American nation for 
recognition of its existence, if not de jure at least de facto. The 
Washington Government informed France that it would have no 
intercourse with an Empire established in Mexico by French 
troops, and seeing that Napoleon's Minister was disposed to an- 
nul that objection, Secretary Seward declared that in the Mexi- 
can question the conduct of the United States was not based so 
much on the existence or non-existence of French troops in that 
territory, and that his Government was dissatisfied on account 
of the establishment in his neighborhood of an Empire, and the 
abrogation of a Republican form of government. 



15 

This broad policy was effectually enforced, even with the in- 
terference of the American Government, not to allow in Mexico 
the establishment of a kind of labor which was equivalent to 
slavery : an institution which the United States could not tolerate. 

On that memorable occasion the United States did not refrain 
from doing 1 their duty in their relations with the Mexican Re- 
publican Government, to consider coolly whether President 
Juarez had a regular army or not, whether he had ports or any 
chance of success. This Government did not deem it necessary 
to study militarily the question in order to decide whether the 
war existed or not. Its aim was the defence of the high prin- 
ciples of liberty and republicanism : the basis of the American 
nation. Its rule of conduct was justice, putting aside the pe- 
cuniary interests of the States (whose commerce could earn 
larger profits from the Imperial than the Republican form of 
Mexican government), and attending chiefly to more culminating 
and statesman-like views. 

From all that I have stated, I suppose it can be proved : 

That the United States, who needed the aid of powerful nations 
to achieve their independence, conclude that Cuba is bound not 
to need any assistance to attain hers. 

That the United States, notwithstanding the strength of the 
Cubans, far superior to that of the Greeks and other people de- 
clared belligerents, do not deem it proper to concede them belli- 
gerent rights. 

That the United States, in their claims against the Danish 
Government, in their answer to the Minister of Spain, Mr. Onis, 
in 1816, and in their Courts, having established that every 
American colony, fighting for its independence, has a right 
to be treated as a belligerent, are opposed to this principle in the 
case of Cuba. 

That the United States, having recognized the existence of a 
civil war in Cuba, for which recognition they were bound to 
treat upon equal terrns both contending parties, have aided 
Spain, allowing her to build and fit out, in this nation, a strong 
squadron of gun boats, and the best armament of the world ; 
forbidding, at the same time, the Cubans from supplying them- 
selves with amis and munitions of war in this market, which is 
the only one they can come to. 

That the United States, having always interfered in favor of 
Spain, to oppose the independence of the Island, on the ground 
that they could not assent to the abolition of slavery, nor to the 
falling of Cuba into the power of a maritime nation, now under 
free institutions, favor also Spain, who has decided upon main- 
taining slavery in her colonies, and has a powerful navy. 

And that the United States look with contempt upon the 
abolition of slavery, declared by the Cuban Republic, the liberal 
institutions established by the patriots, and the constancy and 
heroism they show in their struggle for independence. 

I confess not to be able to disguise the bitterness I feel in the 



16 

presence of so many contradictions. I cannot understand dis- 
tinctly, and for the honor of mankind I do not want to understand 
at all, why this country, formerly under democratic administra- 
tions, and now under republican rule, believes herself ob- 
liged to deny all notions of justice when she has to treat the 
Cuban question, why she thinks proper to make a difference bet- 
ween Cuba and the rest of humanity. 

This Government, no doubt, has had some reasons for not 
taking sudden steps in that question without attending to other 
matters and the general interests of the nation. At the outbreak 
of the insurrection on the Island, the Union had to consolidate 
peace at home, and to strengthen herself in order to bear the bur- 
den of the heavy debt contracted during the war. She had at 
the same time to maintain the claims of her citizens against 
England on account of the Alabama depredations. 

However, it has not been satisfactorily explained why this 
powerful nation thought it prudent not to expose herself by 
doing her duty, to the ill will of a third rate European power, 
weakened at the beginning of the Cuban insurrection by the 
revolution which drove from the throne Queen Isabel the second, 
and discomfited by the civil convulsions she was suffering on 
Spanish soil. 

Be it as it may, it was thought by the Department of State 
that the mission of- General Sickles to Madrid, would result in 
setting aside every kind of difficulty. The proposition made by 
that Minister of the recognition of Cuban independence by 
Spain, and the payment to her, by the Cubans, of a large sum as an 
indemnity, with the guarantee of the United States, was in fact 
a generous mediation, a human and elevated solution worthy of 
this great nation ; it was an excellent scheme, which, if accept- 
ed, would have been glorious to Spain, glorious to the Union, 
and beneficial to Cuba. 

Unhappily the Madrid Government did not accept those pro- 
positions, and the only measures it has taken during the protract- 
ed presence of Mr. Sickles in Spain, has been to send continually 
against Cuba, thousands upon thousands of troops, and to endea- 
vor to recover its power over the Island, by waging a war of 
cruelty unsurpassed by any other in the history of mankind. 

Far from being inclined to humanitary terms, Spain has de- 
clared in Cortes that her policy is the surrender of the Cubans 
or their extermination ; and she has approved of all the horrors 
perpetrated by the volunteers, that is to say, that blood-thirsty 
slave-trading militia, not less savage, if not as brave, as the Jan- 
isaries and Mamelukes. 

In order to avoid the action of the United States Congress in 
favor of Cuban belligerency, to render useless the noble mission 
of General Sickles, and above all to gain time to suppress the 
insurrection, Spain adopted the system of deceiving the whole 
world by publishing news that was entirely false. Indeed, the 
Count of Valmaseda, commanding the Eastern Department, and 



17 

General Caballero de Rodas, Captain General of the Island, declar- 
ed officially, two years ago, under instructions of the Government 
of Madrid, that the Cuban insurrection had been suppressed, and 
to give more appearance of truth to such a declaration, a Te 
Deam was celebrated in the Churches, to bless God for the tri- 
umph of the Spanish army ! This was not enough. The Cortes, 
or National Congress, passed, unanimously, a resolution in June, 
1870, giving a vote of thanks to said Caballero de Rodas, for 
having achieved the pacification of the Island/ 

Nearly two years after that vote, the war in the Island does 
not offer any apparent prospect of an early termination, as offi- 
cially stated by the President of the United States. 

This machiavelism would have proved much more to the credit 
of Spanish diplomatic skill, had the Cubans at last, for want of 
arms and .munitions of war, been subdued. At all events, Spain 
has obtained a great diplomatic triumph. She needed, at any 
cost, time to strengthen herself and materially and morally 
weaken the Cuban cause, so that she might secure for herself 
every kind of advantage during several years in her unjust war 
against the natives of the Island. If she has not conquered, it 
has not been for want of time. 

Announcing constantly, day after day, that the insurrectionary 
movement had been stamped out, she delayed the action of the 
American Congress and the recognition of belligerency in favor 
of the Cubans ; making it impossible for the latter to strengthen 
themselves with arms and munitions of war, to raise a navy and 
to assume effectively the offensive, while she fortified her army 
and ports with rifles, guns and vessels of the United States. 

But Cuba has not been vanquished, and she will not lay down 
her arms, in spite of American aid to her oppressors. 

The formal rejection by Spain of the propositions presented 
by General Sickles, her inhuman conduct and her false assertions 
concerning the situation of the war, were motives enough to 
change the American policy. 

In the meantime the Republican government of Cuba could 
not understand the behavior of the United States. Its annoy- 
ance in that matter was augmented by the rumor, astutely cir- 
culated by Spanish agents hi the Cuban camps, that the govern- 
ments of Madrid and Washington had formed a secret alliance 
to crush the insurrection ; a rumor which was sustained by the 
aid of the United States to Spain, and by the amenities and good 
will showed by this Cabinet towards her, notwithstanding the 
bloody outrages committed upon American citizens by the 
Spanish rulers of the Island. 

Nevertheless, if it is true that some of the patriots abandoned 
the field on account of that rumor, the greater part of them 
could not give credit to the existence of such an alliance. They 
were confident that the nation of Washington, the nation of the 
Monroe doctrine, the nation of the abolition of slavery, the nation 



18 

of free republican institutions, could not be false to herself by 
abandoning them. 

Indeed they have suffered agonies for the want of American 
neutrality. They have made terrible sacrifices. And yet their 
army is to-day as strong as ever ! And it is in point to repeat 
that, had they been treated upon equal terms with their enemy, 
by the United States, they would have planted upon the Morro 
Castle the flag of the lone Star. 

Time enough has elapsed for this government to take a reso- 
lution on that matter. It is already well known that Spain will 
never accept any kind of propositions favoring in Cuba and Por- 
to Rico free institutions, the blessings of which this nation 
desires in every country, as has been eloquently said by the Pre- 
sident of the United States. It is likewise seen by every Amer- 
ican that the friendship shown by this Cabinet to Spain, instead 
of having been a motive of gratitude for the latter to the former, 
has awakened the quixotic Castilian pride, and let loose the fury 
of the volunteers, endangering even the lives of American citizens, 
as has been stated by accurate official reports of the United 
States Consulate in Havana. 

It being therefore impossible, either to obtain from Spain an 
amicable settlement of the Cuban question, or to preserve longer 
the actual state of things, the only course for the United States 
to pursue is, according to Wheaton, " to allow to both the contend- 
ing parties all the rights public war gives to independent sover- 
eigns." 

A single declaration of neutrality will suffice to that end. 

To allow Spain, on the contrary, to continue supplying herself 
in this country with arms and vessels, forbidding the same to the 
Cubans would be revolting. 

And even the maintenance of the order given to the American 
squadron to protect the evasion from the Island of every Cu- 
ban engaged in the revolutionary war, would be justly considered 
as a practical intervention in favor of Spain. The meaning of 
that order can be no other than that the United States want to 
make known to the patriots that they will never be recognized 
by the Union, and the only hope of safety they have is in flight. 
In fact the order is directed to demoralize the Cuban soldiers, 
presenting to the weak a pretext and a facility for abandoning 
their duty. The sentiments which dictate that order are undoubt- 
edly generous, as when a similar one was issued in behalf of the 
Cretans : but in Crete the insurrectionary movement was nearly 
suppressed, while in Cuba the war, as the President of the United 
States says, has no apparent prospect of an early termination. 

Let us add to this that the order is ineffectual. The Spaniards 
have, for the work of preventing the Cubans from taking refuge 
in the few American vessels that can receive the latter, a large 
squadron of thirty gun boats (American also) besides their fleet : 
for that reason the fugitives who intend to seek their safety in 



19 

the United States navy, can be lured to places where they must 
inevitably fall into the hands of their merciless enemies. 

Why does the American Government, which has intervened 
openly in the war, by that order against the neutrality principles, 
not intervene in an inverse sense giving to her navy instructions 
to break the Spanish blockade not with the object of carrying 
Cubans out of' the Island, but to land in it the patriots who 
would like to fight for their country ? This course would be as 
contrary as the other to neutrality, but would have the advan- 
tage of strengthening the Cuban Republic instead of weaken- 
ing it. 

But the Cubans that are abroad do not need to be conveyed 
to their native land by the United States men of war, in order to 
accomplish their patriotic duty. They will go by themselves if 
they are treated upon equal terms with their enemy in this 
great country. 

They will be treated in such a way. It cannot be otherwise. 
The nation can no longer despise its own laws. In the case of 
the Santissima Trinidad and JV. S. de la Caridad, it was resolv- 
ed "that the Government of the United /States having recognized 
the existence of a civil war between Spain and her colonies, the 
Courts of the United States were bound to consider as lawful those 
acts, which toere authorized by the law of nations, and which the 
new governments may direct against their enemies, and their cap- 
tures were to be regarded as other captures juee belli, the legality 
ofiohich cannot be determined in the Courts of a neutral country " 
That decision has become a law of the nation. 
The existence of a civil war between Spain and the Cuban 
colony has been recognized. The consequence ought not be de- 
layed any longer. 

If this shall not be, it will be clearly demonstrated that this 
great nation has decided to see calmly the sacrifice by the Spani- 
ards of an enlightened and most heroic people. 

But such a sacrifice will never be entirely consummated, even 
with the continuance of the aid afforded to Spain by the United 
States. In order to crush the independent movement, this na- 
tion will have to go a little farther in its alliance with Spain, and 
send at once American troops subject to the order of Count 
Valmaseda. 

This hypothesis cannot be admitted. The American Union 
will never fight in alliance with a despotic slave-holding govern- 
ment, against a liberal republic. Contrariwise this nation would 
be very soon broken to pieces and in total decadence, passing 
suddenly from the zenith of its greatness to the degradation of the 
Roman Empire, and this downfall cannot be foreseen neither in 
the progressive state of the country, nor in its enlightened Con- 
gress and free Press, a perfect mirror of the American people. 

Let us suppose that the American Government does not wish 
the establishment of a rich independent Republic in the West 
Indies, having the purpose of holding Cuba and all the other 



20 

Antilles, as a necessary prize for the ravenous eagle. If such is 
the case, if the Cubans are pitilessly condemned never to have a 
national character, placed between Scylla and Charybdis, or being 
the true representation of the golden apple, humanity and self- 
respect ask the United States to put an end to the present situa- 
tion of things, by having the courage to cut the Grordian knot 
with its powerful swor,d. 

New York, March 18th, 1872. 

J. DE ARMAS Y CESPEDES. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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